Monday, February 28, 2011

Christine Assange And Her Daily Conversations With Julian

As Julian Assange sits at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk,UK under house arrest and fighting extradition to Sweden his mother talks to him daily and waits for his safe return to Australia.

In their conversations Christine Assange reminds her son to take his vitamins, eat well, and get plenty of sleep, just like any other mother.
She said:

"He's just my son. It's no different. I'm not suffering any more than any other mother who's got a concern about her son ... it's just that the implications are more serious."

Julian Assange has angered the United States government by releasing leaked diplomatic cables and has received many death threats. Fearing for the safety of his family he has distanced himself from his 21 years old son Daniel. Julian raised his son alone for the first five years of his life.

Mrs. Assange claims that her son is not egotistical and said:

"At the moment they are not having as much contact because of what's going on. But Daniel understands why. [Julian] has been doing it with all of us to protect us."

Mrs Assange has told her son:

"Be very, very careful because you are now challenging powerful people who will not play by the rules."

Mr. Assange and his lawyers fear that if he is extradited to Sweden that he may then be extradited to the United States where he may face espionage or conspiracy charges, torture, jail at Guantanimo Bay, all of the above, or possibly the death penalty.

Christine Assange feels she is not one of those mothers who believe that their child can do no wrong and said:

"My gut feeling is I don't believe my son is capable of rape ... Capable of making errors of judgement in relationships? We all are."

She admits to having conflicting feelings about her son's path in life and said:

"I have the emotional view that any mother has, I don't want to see my son vilified and terrorised and threatened with kidnap and death."

"On the other hand, I see how brave he is, how committed to justice he is and truth, how intelligently he's used those attributes and desires."

There has been speculation that Mr. Assange is on the autism spectrum because of his intellect and odd manner but his mother said:

"I don't think so. People of great intellect or creativity are highly stimulated by that intellect and creativity and not as stimulated by pure social interaction. But if he meets someone who is interesting, then he can be engaged."

Christine Assange thinks that the periods of home schooling that her son received encouraged him to develop his own mind and said:

"The word that [he] used mostly was 'why?' You'd answer and [he would say] 'but why?' I used to say to him, 'why do you think?' I tried not to impose my own thoughts on him."

Mother and son are disappointed by Julia Gillard's claim Julian is engaged in "illegal acts" and Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd's failure to lobby Sweden and the US. They think their best hope is to mobilize public support to lobby MPs.

Christine Assange said:

"If people don't stand up, the US government, and other governments who do not want the people to know the truth behind their shady dealings, have unlimited resources to stop my son, including killing him."

"If they could guarantee that there would be no extradition by the US then he could come home ... This is his homeland. Home is home."